


(DNA)

by ohemdee



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Body Horror (only because of his issues with his robot half), Gen, Genji Shimada-centric, Genji questioning his humanness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 07:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14972405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohemdee/pseuds/ohemdee
Summary: Genji questions how human he really is, and Moira lays down some proof.





	(DNA)

**Author's Note:**

> I chose “extraction” for day 2 of Blackwatch Week, and took a different spin on it. When I hear the word “extraction”, my first thought is always “DNA extraction” thanks to school and work, so I ran with that thought (thank goodness there’s a geneticist in Overwatch!)

“That was…”

“Inhuman?” He ran his thumb along the edge of his katana, revelling in the feel of cool steel against his skin before sliding it back into its’ sheath.

“Well, I don't know that's the word, but it sure was somethin’, partner. You got one more round in you?”

“Looking to make it best of five, cowman?”

Jesse grinned. “I know when I've lost, and I'll pay up. Just like the company, that's all.”

They'd been running simulations all afternoon, bored and pent up from a lack of missions that required their particular skill sets, bugging Reyes until he finally got mad at both of them and put them down for double PT and training sims “until they were too tired to think in words.” Not that Genji wasn't grateful. It gave him something to do other than venture down the dark alleys of his own mind, or let McCree get him into trouble.

“I think that is enough for me. Dr. Ziegler wished to run some tests to see how the extra work is affecting the mechanical parts.” Genji tried to keep his voice light, but he could see McCree’s grimace before he hid is face under the brim of his hat, pretending he was just adjusting it.

“Don't you get tired of all that? Gotta be annoying, living like a lab rat, try this new drug, promise it won’t kill ya, and-”

“McCree. Please.” They'd had this conversation before, the last time when he'd nearly had a heart attack during a training sim, his liver not up to the task of filtering whatever Dr. Ziegler was pumping through false veins. Genji clenched his fists and breathed in slowly through his nose. “I can't. Not right now.”

“Hey.” McCree laid a hand on his exposed shoulder. “Just been thinkin’ ‘bout it more. Won't bring it up again.”

 

* * *

 

Dr. Ziegler had attempted to make her lab a little more friendly than the typical stainless steel and antiseptic white. Photos on the walls of the Overwatch crew, some (fake) flowers in the corner on a small stand, non-fluorescent lighting. But every inch of it, inches Genji knew all too well from far too many hours studying it, set his teeth on edge.

Angela was deep into reading something on her tablet when he arrived. He had knocked, and had let himself in when there was no reply, clearing his throat when he got closer to her desk. She startled and dropped the tablet, swearing first in English, then German when it cracked sharply on the surface.

“Genji! I didn't hear you come in! You move too quietly these days, we’ll have to start putting a bell on you.” She smiled warmly at him, always kind despite his misgivings towards her.

“You are the doctor to make that happen.”

Her brow furrowed and when she smiled again it was tighter than before. “I suppose I could just pay more attention as well.” She got up and walked around her desk, leading him towards her exam table. “You'll have to forgive me, I wasn't expecting you so soon, I'm quite unprepared.”

He slid himself up to sit on the table, and watched carefully as she pulled her kits out, relaxing when it was just the basic repair supplies. Nothing new today then.

“Have you been feeling anything unusual?” He shook his head in response. “Nothing feeling slow, or unresponsive?” Another shake, and Angela brightened visibly. “That's good! If everything tests well, we can start stretching the time between these visits. Now, the usual, electrodes, a quick blood test, and some other fluid checks, and we're done.”

The ease of practice had them moving together to hook Genji up to all the various machinery to measure everything from his heart rate to joint mobility. The sensors in his more mechanical parts transmitted reams of data that Angela somehow made sense of and Genji could not care less to try and comprehend. He generally let himself drift and daydream during this whole process, trying not to think too hard about whatever fluid Angela took from his thigh to test.

“How much blood do I have?”  
  
“About, hmm.” Angela paused, taking the time to line up her tubes in a neat row. “Two litres, or 40% of a normal adult man.” She had learned long ago to simply answer whatever he asked.

“What is the rest of the fluid?” He eyed the vials she had filled carefully.

Angela studied his face for a moment, the fine lines in her forehead deepening. He'd never been curious before. “Coolant mostly. Running a body is a hot process, and some of the joints would suffer if they were not sufficiently cooled.”

Genji stared at the ceiling for a bit, letting her keep working in silence.

“If I died, if my brain died, could a computer make my body keep moving around?”

She stopped what she was doing completely, and openly stared at him. He tried to school his expression into something neutral, and maybe succeeded. The mask helped.

When Angela finally realized she wasn't going to be winning their staring contest she sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair. “I suppose, in theory, yes. There's a lot of integration into your spinal column, both for support and communication from the brain, and that would hold up your your body. As you know, everything below your pelvis is mechanical, so you would be mobile. Are you happy you asked that?”

He nodded. “Just wondering what it would take to make me all machine.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I think we’re done here. And I’m putting you down for a psych eval.”

He jumped lightly off the table and gave her a short wave over his shoulder on the way out.

 

* * *

 

“You seem moody.” Moira tapped out something on her tablet, pausing only to look up at him for a moment before returning to her work. “Is there any particular reason you’ve decided to come to see me?”

“Avoiding psych eval. They’re scared of you.” Genji was spinning around in one of the lab chairs in the middle of the room, after getting shooed away from rearranging the glassware on the counter.

“Ah.”

Moira propped her tablet up on some boxes on her bench, her back to Genji, and he watched as she scrolled through some charts that were completely meaningless to probably anyone but her, and maybe Angela. They sat in silence for at least five minutes, Genji spinning, Moira scrolling.

“Why did Dr. Ziegler send you for a psych eval?” Moira glanced over her shoulder at him. “That chair will spin apart. You have to go the other way sometimes.”

He swapped direction. “I asked if my body could keep moving without me being alive.”

“Could it?” She sounded genuinely curious, and turned in her own chair to look at him directly.

“Yes, possibly.” He shrugged. “I am more machine than man after all.”

Moira’s eyes narrowed. “Can I take a sample? Blood, preferably, but hair works just as well.”

Genji shrugged again and stuck out his arm. Moira pulled a kit down from the shelf above her bench, and took a single vial, far less than he’d had drawn by anyone else.

“Come back tomorrow. It’s been an hour, they’ll have rescheduled you by now.” When he didn’t move, she waved lightly towards the door. “Go.”

* * *

 

Moira tossed some pictures of something down in front of him, nearly in his lunch, and helped herself to the seat across from him.

“You didn’t come see me. Looks like you’re human after all.”

“What?” He stared at whatever she’d tossed down. A bunch of light lines on a black background. Pictures of something, sure, but nothing meaningful.

“This,” Moira pulled out a pen and circled one column of lines, “is the DNA from the extraction I did on your blood yesterday. This,” She circled the column next to it, “is my DNA. Looks the same. Human.”

“How do I know that you’re human?”

She rolled her eyes and circled the third column. “This is McCree’s DNA. He’s human enough for both of us.”

Genji nodded slowly, and took another bite of soup. Moira stole a fry off his plate.

“Can I keep this?” He put his hand, the flesh hand, on the paper.

Moira stole another fry, got up from her seat, and started to walk away. “If it helps.”

Genji smoothed the paper out in front of him, studied the lines, and finished his soup.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr at [oh-emdee](http://oh-emdee.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> For those curious about what the "lines" are that Moira shows Genji, here is a link to an image of a [DNA gel](https://www.researchgate.net/post/Agarose_gel_electrophoresis_DNA_artifact-bands_look_like_letterboxes) (DNA can be split using enzymes, or mechanically broken up, and run through an agarose gel- DNA is negatively charged, and will move towards a positive charge). This a process called gel electrophoresis, and yes, if you used the same specific enzymes to break down the DNA, humans would all look the same- all the science here is accurate!
> 
> If you want to come say hi, do so! I'm always happy to have readers in my inbox :)


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